Shabby Chic Bureau no. 26 – Paris Blue with Butterfly Print

Hotel Papillon: Vintage Butterfly Print Transfer on Upcycled Bureau

When we found this bureau it took us a while to make up a plan for the makeover.

Kat came up with an idea to use new shade of blue, which would be soft and pastel match nicely with the graphics we printed to line down the bottoms of drawers. The theme is PARIS.

We mixed together ‘Luis Blue’ and ‘Paris Grey’ from Annie Sloan’s pallet to find the perfect shade which we called ‘Paris Blue’.

We do not know the story behind the piece, but after dismounting it we found some old coins from various countries and a misterious business card. It is always so excited to see a history coming back to life and some sings of previous owners.

The bureau was in good condition and has beautiful handles which we bring up to shiny gold look, the key works nicely with the lock, so it is fully functional.

Like always, before we cover it with paint, first of all we sanded it down, cleaned the dust and covered with primer. Using two colours, first ‘Old White’ and ‘Paris Blue’ later, we distressed it to create the worn look of shabby chic style. The supporting arms got a new grey felt.

We used couple of times our print with butterfly before (French Hotel Papillon), and this time we decided do it again as it matches lovely the character of the piece. Kris transferred the image with a screen printing method which he mastered sometimes ago.

The bureau become a truly glamour, it is very soft and elegant and the compartment inside gives even more distinguished looks. We are really happy with the final look.

Thank you so much for your tutorials and freebies! I have purchased several of your amazing stencils. I have a couple of questions on how you do your drawer liners: What type of paper do you use and how do you apply it? How do you print the pages to make them not overlap, especially with the French letters.